This year has not been particularly kind to Apple when it comes to leaks. Not too long ago, an accident led to the release of the firmware tied to the company's upcoming smart speaker, the HomePod, and that revealed quite a bit of information regarding not only that device, but also things like the upcoming flagship iPhone. Details that, on any day of the week --aside from announcement day-- the company would have wanted to keep a secret.

That led to plenty of coverage and confirmation of rumors. We had already expected that the new flagship would look a certain way, boast some features and more, and the leaked firmware essentially confirmed all of that before Apple could take the stage and do so officially. It was an unfortunate accident.

And then this last weekend happened, and what appears to be a malicious move against Apple has led to one of the biggest leaks in the company's history.

Over the weekend we saw a lot of different things about the new iPhones, including their names: iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X. We also leaned how the software would work on the flagship iPhone X, with some changes having to be made due to that "notch design." We know details on Face ID, the security software that will be replacing Touch ID, and we, again, confirmed the specific design of the handset.

There was a lot more, too, basically covering a lot of the major elements that hadn't already been confirmed by the year's previous leak. For some people, depending on how deep you go down the rabbit hole when it comes to these sorts of news reports, there might not be a lot of "new" things happening on stage today, September 12, when Apple officially does announce the new iPhone lineup.

(Of course, it's worth considering that some of these things, like even the names of the phones in some way or another, might change for the final reveal. Nothing's officially official until the company itself announces it, after all.)

This is a big deal for Apple and things are obviously going to change to make sure these sorts of leaks don't happen again in the future. But, what about the general consumer? Or even the person that does stay on top of the news focused on smartphones? If you were on the fence regarding buying an iPhone X before, doe these leaks enforce your opinion one way or another? Or are you still waiting for the big reveal day, and will make a decision from there? Let me know!